Keep on Keepin' On!
by TheyCallMeArjun
Summary: The world began with a bang, and it ends with a whimper. Everything in between is a bumpy, angst-filled, sometimes knee-slapping struggle. Better brace yourselves, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. You're in for the long haul. AU


_**Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.**_

_Keep on Keepin' On! - Prologue_

Snickering to himself, a five-year old blond kid wearing an orange t-shirt with black shorts sat at the back table in a kindergarten classroom stealthily flicking erasers at the female teacher. When her head snapped up with fire in her eyes, the prankster ducked his head between his knees and covered his mouth in an attempt to block out his laughter.

"Na~ruto." The teacher called out in a sing-song voice, "Now, look here, people don't like it when you flick things at them. It upsets them." She continued in an all-too kind tone with an entirely too bright smile plastered on her face. It was always a bad sign when Kurenai acted _too_ nice. That meant she was teetering on the edge of nuclear explosion.

"I can explain, sensei." Naruto responded, waving his arms around to get his point across, "I'm goin' to be a big-time eraser-flicker-guy when I'm all grown up, so I gotta practice, dattebayo!" Naruto finished with a proud nod. Bullet-proof excuse. Absolutely bullet-proof.

Kurenai's eye twitched.

A few kids in his class turned to him with stars in their eyes. "Can I be a flicker-guy, too, Naruto?" A brown-haired boy asked hopefully.

Naruto shook his head rapidly. "No way! You gotta be the best of the bestest to be a flicker, and that's me. The bestest." Naruto pointed to himself, grinning proudly. Then, his smile faded and turned to a look of childlike disgust. "You stink so you can't be the bestest or the second bestest or even the _third bestest_!" Naruto said, dramatically pointing at the brown-haired child.

The brown-haired boy gasped as tears formed in his eyes. "My mommy t-told me I could be a-anything I wanna be!" He shouted through sniffles.

"Your mommy's a liar, 'ttebayo." Naruto quipped with crossed arms.

"That's enough, Naruto." Kurenai announced, rubbing her temple to quell the oncoming headache. Just then, the bell rang, announcing the end of the school day. All the students stood, retrieved their things, and walked with their friends just outside the building where they waited for their parents to come and pick them up. Naruto stood to do the same before Kurenai stopped him. "Hold on, Naruto, I need to speak with. Come to my desk."

"I'm real busy, sensei. Like, eraser-flicking busy." Naruto said with a grin as he continued packing his stuff in his bag. Just as he was about to leave, Kurenai blocked his way by standing in front of him. "Hey! What's the big id-" Naruto stopped his complaint when he looked up at Kurenai. She was giving him that do-what-I-say-or-I'll-eat-you-alive look.

Naruto gulped audibly and tried to shrug nonchalantly. "I'm not _that_ busy, 'ttebayo." Naruto said as he walked with Kurenai to her desk. He lifted his arm to cover the mischievous smirk that spread across his face. He watched with bated breath as Kurenai approached her seat and sat down.

_'Thumbtack, do your magic!'_

* * *

Kushina Uzumaki waited patiently by the front door of the school her son currently attended. She waved kindly to all the familiar parents that came to pick up their children and she made funny faces to all the kids that looked over to her.

Well, that got mixed reactions from the kids, but the high-pitched squeal and the following laughter that Kushina knew belonged to her son definitely got a reaction out of her.

Kushina kept her eyes on the door, and a couple minutes later. Her son walked out with a sticky note slapped on his forehead and dangling over his eyes.

"Hi, mom!" Naruto greeted with a great big smile and an enthusiastic wave, completely disregarding the note on his face.

"What ya got there, sweetie?" Kushina asked rhetorically as she peeled the note off Naruto's forehead and read it to herself. Her eyes shot open by the end of it.

"You got suspended, 'ttebane?!" Kushina exclaimed in absolute shock.

Naruto nodded, "I dunno what that means, but yeah. I'm 'spended!"

* * *

Naruto's eyes lazily followed the finger that his mother was wagging in his face. She had a stern look on her face that was so utterly foreign that Naruto couldn't help but grin at how odd it was to see it on his mother's face.

"I'm going to work now, so stay put in the apartment! Don't let anybody in and make sure you eat all the veggies in your dinner. You want to be awesome and strong like your mommy, right?" Kushina said, standing tall and gripping her bicep for good measure.

Naruto jumped back in shock. "If I eat veggies, I'll turn into a girl?!" Naruto gasped with legitimate fear, "I'm never eating stupid veggies ever!"

Kushina held back a laugh and ruffled her son's spiky blond hair. "You won't turn into a girl, sweetie." Kushina leaned down and gave her son a peck on the cheek and smiled. "Bye! I'll be back in a few hours." She said as she left the apartment.

Naruto blankly stared at the closed door for a couple of seconds before his eyes lit up and mischievous grin spread across his face.

Being suspended meant not being able to go to school for a certain period of time. Kushina's work schedule usually coincided with Naruto's school day schedule. She got out of work around the time Naruto got out of school. That explained how Naruto snuck out of the house the last couple of days, but none of that mattered right now, since it was Saturday.

Naruto knew his mom would be out for some time, so he threw on his orange jacket, fumbled with the zipper, and left the apartment. Naruto honestly had no destination in mind, but he just wanted to get out of the house especially since his mother wouldn't be there.

Naruto also wasn't in danger of getting lost. Call him a seasoned veteran of sneaking out of his home. And school. And stores. Basically, every place Naruto has been, he has snuck out of it in some way even if he was in a wide-open place.

As Naruto was walking along the sidewalk, an old lady spotted him and crouched down to his level. Naruto stopped walking and looked at the lady blankly.

"Oh, what a cute little boy you are!" The lady commented with a kind smile. Her smile fell when Naruto, strangely enough, barked at her. Like a dog, he literally barked at the old lady. When she stood back up with a perturbed look on her face, Naruto kept barking like a chihuahua. The old lady quickly scurried away, looking anywhere but at the barking blond child.

Naruto laughed victoriously as he kept walking along the sidewalk. Barking at annoying strangers. Works everytime.

Minutes later, Naruto found himself in the park. Right in the center was a sizeable sandbox with a sad pink-haired girl sitting by herself.

* * *

Mebuki Haruno was at a loss. Her daughter, Sakura, wasn't making any friends, and worst of all, she was being bullied. It got to the point where Sakura had actively avoided anyone who even looked at her.

With a sad sigh, Mebuki stood up to go take her daughter home, but before she could even fully stand, a little blond boy literally dived into the sandbox.

* * *

Sakura jumped with a squeal as a boy seemingly fell from the sky. He flopped onto his back and started creating a sand...angel...thing.

"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Why ya sittin' here all alone?" Naruto questioned as he continued to wave his arms in the sand, "I was gonna prank ya, but you looked so sad, so I decided to say hi instead."

Sakura was still recovering from the mini heart attack she just experienced, so she could do little more than just stare with wide eyes at the odd blond boy.

Naruto stopped waving his arms abruptly and stared at Sakura with a steely gaze. "You're pretty mean." Naruto commented offhandedly.

Sakura gasped at the remark.

"I said hi to you and told you my name, and you haven't even said hi back." Naruto grumbled as he looked away from the pink-haired girl.

"My name is Sakura." The girl muttered under her breath. She looked down at the sand nervously.

"Who was 'sposed to hear that, huh? Ya gotta say it loud and proud, 'ttebayo!" Naruto encouraged throwing his hands up excitedly.

"My name is Sakura and I'm not mean!" Sakura shouted out with a light blush from the exertion. Then, she blinked and looked up at Naruto curiously. "'Ttebayo?"

"Mom said I got it from her like a bad cough that won't go away." Naruto said with crossed arms.

Sakura looked around the park before looking at Naruto again. "Where is your mom?"

"She's on Mars." Naruto stated casually. He nearly lost it from Sakura's bug-eyed expression, "My mom's an alien from outer-space. She's got scales and antennas. Oh, and she's green!"

Sakura stuttered out an incoherent mess of words before Naruto burst out laughing.

"You didn't _really_ believe me, right?" Naruto said between chuckles as he wiped a tear of mirth from his eye.

"O-of course not!" Sakura tried to rebound with an all too sure look on her face. It might have passed off as genuine if her eyebrows weren't twitching nervously.

Naruto exploded in a fit of laughter, again. This time, Sakura joined him with her soft laugh.

* * *

Mebuki was pleasantly surprised by the recent turn of events. Just moments ago, Sakura was a gloomy loner. Then in the blink of an eye, or a dive-bomb later, Sakura was openly enjoying herself. Mebuki smiled as she watched her daughter laugh. It was a refreshing sight to see her daughter happy and making friends.

_'But that's one incredibly weird boy. Kind, but weird.'_ Mebuki thought to herself, watching as Naruto and Sakura seemed to start up a game of sorts. Mebuki couldn't tell, honestly. She wanted to say they were belly-dancing based on how the blond child was moving around so animatedly, but that wouldn't make sense.

What the heck kind of child _belly-dances_?

* * *

Truth be told, Naruto and Sakura were playing Ninja. More specifically, _Naruto_ was playing Ninja, (though you certainly wouldn't be able to tell) and Sakura was watching with amusement evident in her green eyes.

Naruto was in his own little world. In his mind, there was a fire-breathing monster on the attack and it was up to him and his unique brand of pure, unadulterated awesome to defeat it and save everybody from certain annihilation. He did so by waving his hands up in the air and swaying his body left and right with varying speeds.

Apparently, he was dodging fireballs. Go figure.

Naruto was snapped from his imagination by laughter. He glanced down at the giggly pink-haired girl. "What's so funny, huh? If I don't beat that ugly monster, who will save all the good guys?" Strangely enough, Naruto was actually pointing ahead of him. Sakura followed his pointer finger and saw that Naruto was pointing at some lady from across the park. The lady heard what Naruto said and huffed indignantly.

Naruto looked over at the upset lady, then back at Sakura. "What the heck's her deal?" Naruto asked as he made a face at her.

"You're so weird!" Sakura exclaimed as she kept laughing until her face was as pink as her hair.

"You _mean_ I'm so fun, dattebayo!"

"Are you having fun, dear?" Sakura glanced up at the source of the voice and her eyes landed on her mother.

"Yeah, I'm having lots of fun!" Sakura answered, shooting a smile to her new friend who grinned proudly.

"I'm happy to hear that." Mebuki said kindly. She looked over to where Naruto was still making faces at the lady from across the park. "Hello, I see you and my daughter were having fun playing together. Do you want to tell me your name?" Mebuki asked with a good-natured smile.

Naruto barked at her twice.

* * *

Mebuki, Sakura, and Naruto stayed in the park for a little while longer before Mebuki decided to walk Naruto home on the way back to her own house. They got all the introductions out of the way, and Naruto had a good time explaining why he barked at her and why he was at the park by himself in the middle of the day. Mebuki gently reprimanded him for leaving his house without his mother's supervision.

As fate would have it, Sakura and Mebuki's house was next to Naruto's apartment complex. With that knowledge, Mebuki smiled since her daughter definitely had a close friend. Emphasis on _close_.

"See ya later, Sakura!" Naruto called out as he walked over to the apartment complex. Sakura and Mebuki waved happily and went to their house.

Naruto kept walking to his apartment and when he reached for the door knob, his hand came in contact with another hand. He glanced up curiously, and his heart stopped for a second when his eyes landed on someone who ought not to find out her five-year old son was out on a journey.

* * *

"Naruto! I told you to stay put in the apartment! Something could have happened to you, dattebane!" Kushina reprimanded.

Naruto noted that the expression on his mother's face was an angry one instead of a stern one, and that just looked more right.

And it was at that time that Naruto gulped audibly.

"I'm so 'spended, aren't I?"

* * *

**I wrote this as a way of combating a really weird case of writer's block that I'm going through with Chronicles of the Fox. I know what I want to write, but for some ridiculously stupid reason, I just can't get words on the damn page.**

**In regards to this little project, I really just felt like throwing out some humor. Hell, I don't even know if I'm going to have any kind of plot for the story, or if it'll just be some mind-numbing humor in short segments.**

**I'll probably have that all sorted by the time I post this.**

**True fact: I was actually suspended in kindergarten. Why? I was just too much badass for the other kids and the teacher. They had to put a lock on me.**

**Five-year old TheyCallMeArjun is better than five-year old you**


End file.
